Real Estate Marketing Blog

Prices are Going Up?

I guess it is all in whose stats you read.

This from Coaching Clues Newsletter: The Sky Is Not Falling!

They point out that despite the media darling Case-Shiller index, the better indicator of the indices is provided by OFHEO (the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight), Realogy and NAR. These three organizations seem to validate one another's results.

They all have come to the same conclusion: 

"Overall U.S. prices were UP 0.6 percent....In other words, a whopping 77 percent of the areas in the U.S. reported a price increase in January 08 - February 08! The Case-Shiller Index, in contrast, concludes that 95 percent of the MSA's reported negative returns. "

Bernice has been at the forefront on preaching the positivity as we have at positiveonrealestate.com.

I believe that this economic situation is way overblown and so is the housing crisis. It cannot be a meltdown when you continually hear of multiple offers occurring across the country.

By blogging and posting great real estate news you can help counter the negative impressions that get published daily in the traditional media. You can be a leader and can help form the public impression on housing.

More Info:

Dave Lakhani Ends the Recession

The Three Prong Spear to Housing

I visited a friend over the weekend and he asked me what is up with real estate? In fact he posited that, "aren't we at the bottom?" That was interesting that he would think that.

I told him that my unscientific reasoning is that:

• The real estate market got way past rent value
• There are way too many agents
• And most importantly credit is too tight

My ear out there tells me that the buyers are wanting to buy. I know this from my client traffic, and lead counts that are showing the highest numbers in a long time. And in some cases they are higher than ever.

Either the lending will loosen up, or you must learn how to get creative.

More: We have reached the bottom.

3 Oceans is claiming the real estate bottom to add to the echo coming from the OC and LA. So we got North and Southern California covered. How about the rest of the country:-)

Seriously they mention some key points about why the real estate market is at the bottom in the Bay area:

1. The Rich affect. One out of every 10,000 American families has an annual income greater than $10.7 million, according to two university professors who study the super-rich.  By their tally, there are some 15,000 Americans who fit into that category.
2. Jobs-The Bay area tech sector has grown in jobs and Santa Clara County residents earn nearly double the nation’s average weekly wage and surpassed Manhattan as the county whose residents take home the largest paycheck.

Kevin Boer declares the bottom here.

Part Deux:Please Not Another "Have We Hit Bottom Post"

I just found the clip that I referenced in an earlier post on the market bottoming in Orange County and LA.

Please Not Another "Have We Hit Bottom Post"

I know I know....but doesn't it seem like some of the bad news is starting to get crowded out by some of the positives lately.

Just last night I heard on KABC TV in LA that there is lots of proof that LA and Orange County real estate have hit bottom.

I looked all over for the video but cannot find it anywhere online. Meanwhile Zogby Aol just released a poll showing that over 50% of Americans believe that home ownership is still attainable for everyone.

More reasons that it ain't that bad...

I have been watching this number for several months now. I find it interesting that human beings with a million other things to do, would come to a real estate website more and more often, each and every month.

The number of unique visitors to real estate sites jumped to 42.2 million in February, an increase of 14 percent compared to the same month in 2007, according to comScore.

The Move Network, which includes Realtor.com, saw the number of visitors climb by 22 percent to 9.4 million, compared to a year ago. It's the top real estate site.

AOL, which reportedly relaunched its real estate portal late last year, showed a quick ascent. It had 3.1 million unique visitors in February, trailing only Move.com, Yahoo Real Estate, and MSN Real Estate.

Noone cares about real estate until they have at least partially committed to a move. So at worst these millions of real estate website visitors are sitting on the fence, waiting for a good Realtor to gently push them on over into ownershipville.

THE ECONOMIC CRISIS...of common sense

When everyone around you are drowning, its easy to be gloomy. But all is not so bad in housing land. And in some areas many are calling it a rebound.

Economists are quick to predict upward or downward trends. And never quite explain why they were wrong because they are to busy explaining what will happen this next time. Kind of like the weatherman. When an economists comes out and says buy 2 million shares of xyz, or short xyz, then I will know to take this as more of a hard science. 

Look. To guess how our real estate story was going to end did not take a genius. And as it makes great headlines and gives bubble bloggers something to talk about, the ramifications and solutions are often overblown. And because these gloomers are invested, the crisis is forever predicted to be ongoing. However, to the common sense and to the level heads will the spoils go.

A recent article in Christian Science Monitor gives a nice assessment of our overreaction to the ongoing economic "crisis". Even that word alone is ridiculous. Crisis? I heard one guy call it an economic "meltdown". Like 5% unemployment is a bad thing. It used to be called good times!

The rebound will happen soon, and as I have mentioned in the positive on real estate trainings, change and perception changes on a dime these days. By the time the evening news gets it it is old news already.

Will you help create the shift in public perception, or find out about it changing on the evening news? Be a thought leader.

Why now is a terrific time to buy a home

John L Scott just released a PDF that I recommend you read and take as a guideline for your own current marketing materials. Titled, "Why Now is a Great Time To Buy a Home."

I have said before that you should build up your own "positive" real estate arsenal of news and material to get into the hands of your buyers and sellers. Contrary to the current Internet mantras being published, real estate sales is about, um selling. If you are not going to tell your clients the good side of real estate, who will?

Dave Ends the Real Estate Recession!

How To Dominate Your Local Real Estate Market
......(from recession to boom!)

Dave Lakhani
http://www.boldapproach.com
Listen to the whole interview to discover a secret link on Dave's website that contains a ton of free gifts for you. Like an interview with industry great Seth Godin.

What does Jimmy Buffett's Parrotheads, Apple Mac Heads and the Kiss Army, all have in common? They all enjoy a large fan base of zealots for their products and services. Dave shows you how to create your own army of followers that will guarantee your success in any marketplace.

Dave Lakhani has been described as a "Marketing Genius","Business Acceleration Strategist" and "Multipreneur" by his peers and the media.

Dave shares with you million dollar ideas that he charged me a ton of money when he originally taught me these principles. He opens up and shares:

• How to get clients to find you.
• Building Your own Cult-Would you like to build a list of clients as fanatical as an Alabama Bible Revival?
• The difference of manipulation and persuasion.
• How to position yourself as the expert in your local market.
• Dave actually builds a model to dominate your Real Estate Market in 90 Days or less.
• How saying no to business, can actually get you more yeses.
• Why facts tell, stories sell.
• Building your million dollar expert persona.
• A completely unique and wildly effective new way to virtually guarantee that your prospect will buy in your area.
• Why money follows action.
• How to make your listing irresistible.
• Why getting people out of their head and into their emotions will guarantee you real estate selling success in any marketplace.

Belief in your product is the most important thing in sales. So how how do you succeed when your home prices keep dropping? Dave shows you how to deal with what might seem like a crisis of conscious for some. 

This is by far the most revealing sales training I have heard in a very long time. In fact, I guarantee you have not heard this from any real estate trainer.

Recession or Not? Money is Being Made

Rocky Balboa: Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!

The news is rough out there however there was good news today....